I remember visiting Harvard Square in Cambridge 30 years ago when I was a rabbi in Brookline, Mass. Among all the curious-looking people, myriad bookstores and Harvard University buildings was a huge bin of clothes, furniture cast-offs and other items.
Here\’s a theory of social change I\’d like to float: Initial attempts by the established order to respond to sweeping changes are either murderous or ridiculous.
I favor the type of acrylic French tip nails that are considered fashionable only by midlevel porn stars.
Everybody wanted to be in Moscow this past weekend. Leaders from all over the world flew in to partake in history: President George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder all made it, as did President Moshe Katzav of Israel.
There is no doubt that Antonio Villaraigosa is flashy. But Los Angeles has enough movie stars.
On the morning of Rosh Hashanah last fall, Antonio Villaraigosa accompanied my family and me to services.
Cigarette butts, old candy wrappers, dirty napkins on the ground. Above, Jews, Jews, Jews, lots of Jews, walking, smoking, laughing. First day of Chol Hamoed, there\’s a breezy, late afternoon glow.
\”I am not the first in my family to be obsessed with food,\” food writer Arthur Schwartz said. \”I like to say I was born with a wooden spoon in my mouth because there was always cooking going on, and I was always asked to taste and offer my comments. Enough salt? Enough pepper? Does it have the right ta\’am?\” she said, using the Hebrew word for taste.
Actor and Yiddish-language true believer Theodore Bikel grew up in prewar Europe, with German as his first language and Yiddish a quick second, partly due to his father reading his family Sholom Aleichem stories every Tuesday night.
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